Slope stability modelling with SINMAP in a settlement area of the Swabian Alb

Abstract

During the last decades, damages to houses caused by landslides have been consistently occurring in a residential area in Oschingen/Germany. The residential area is located in ductile Callovian clays (Jurassic). Furthermore, in the back slope of the research area, a large Pleistocene slide mass negatively influences the slope stability. Through an integrative approach, the maximum data available for the study area was compiled in order to create a susceptibility map for landslide hazard. Detailed geomorphological field survey provided a valuable base for the assessment of slope stability using Stability Index Mapping (SINMAP). In the framework of long-term studies, consolidated results concerning mass movements and climatic-driven Pleistocene slope evolution, as well as recent slope dynamics, could be gained. These outcomes are compared to the results provided by slope stability modelling with SINMAP. The calculations outline some parameters responsible for higher risks. In general, the interaction of topography, water balances and substrate at the Schonberger Kapf can be designated to cause instability in wide areas. Hydrological parameters are essential for destabilisation of slope and they cause at least temporally destabilisation along channel structures, which presumably are influenced by seasonally increased spring discharge and a reduction in the underground shear strength. The exceptional dimension of the rotational block in connection with the specific slope hydrologic conditions and the intensive anthropogenic impact in the rear slope of the building area Auchtert in Oschingen has to be termed very problematic on the basis of the studies carried out.